Angel Interventions
by mishy-mo
Summary: House gets some angelic help when Ezra Powell's case comes along. The angel is here to help House make a decision but what is it? Warnings: Language. Eventual HouseCam
1. Chapter 1

"We give him a syringe full of morphine." Chase said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world earning him some odd looks from his co-fellows.

They had just done a long and full stress test on their patient Ezra Powell and in doing so almost killed him, which he'd expressed no objection what so ever. In fact the old man was all for it.

"Every doctor I've ever practiced with has done it." The Australian continued. "They don't want to, they don't like to, but that's the way it is."

"I haven't, I won't." Foreman said definitely shaking his head.

"I couldn't do it either." Cameron agreed in a timid voice.

House continued mixing his coffee listening intently to the conversation of his underlings but staying out of it for now.

"You just said we should respect his decision." Chase exclaimed incredulous.

"Respect it doesn't necessarily mean we honour it." She replied diplomatically.

"Right. Just means we talk about it." he snarked not unlike his boss would have. He paused for a moment, "At some point, do no harm has to mean allowing nature to take its course, not stubbornly standing in the way of it."

"Sticking a metal syringe into a plastic I.V. line and pumping in a lethal dose of morphine is not letting nature take its course. Not according to the state of New Jersey." Forman argued.

"So its better we allow him to slowly suffocate in his own plasma?" Cameron countered.

"Whose side are you on, senator?" Foreman snapped. "First respect his wishes, then invade Iraq, then get the troops home. Make up your mind."

"Wow." House said in a distinctly unimpressed tone. "Certainly a lot of interesting things to consider. Stress EKG rules out the heart, which means something's gotta be attacking his lungs. Mycoplasmas or strep pneumo, which probably means it's too late to do anything about it. We could try levofloxacin."

"Coming up with a new treatment isn't gonna do us any good unless we convince him it's worth trying." Cameron stated.

"Oh, come on. He's old, and sick, and tiny. We can do whatever we want to him." House said almost evilly.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"Well go check on the little old man and find out if your moral dilemma has solved itself." House said shooing them out.

House sighed and disappeared back into his office coffee cup still in hand. This case was going to be a bitch even with out the moral crap of the patient wanting to die even his ducklings were already twittering on about whether it was right or wrong. The truth was even he didn't know. Did anyone? He sympathised with Cameron somewhat as she struggled to follow her own morals and help the patient and torn between the strong opinions of her colleagues. He sighed softly and slumped into his chair then closed his eyes in deep thought. It might strike most people and even he as odd but he wanted to help her for an instant. But how could he? He needed help himself.

"Hello Gregory."

House's eyes sprung open and he frowned deeply. "Who are you and how the hell did you get in here?" He asked as his eyes moved warily over the tallish African American man in a grey suit and overcoat, a smiliarly colored hat turning in his hands.

"How in the heaven you might say." The dark man said with a wide smile.

"Okay bucko back to the phsyc ward with you."

"Oh I'm not a patient. I'm an angel." He said with that smile still on his face.

"Riiight." House said disbelieving as he stood. "NURSE!" he shouted standing.

"Don't do this Gregory." the **_angel _**warned.

"NURSE! Get this mentalist out of my office!" He shouted as he saw a short woman in pink scrubs approaching his door.

"Gregory only you can see and hear me." the **_angel_** stated.

"Unless you've finally decided to have yourself committed Dr House I'll leave and ask you to stop wasting my time." she growled and left stomping her feet slightly.

House felt shocked and horrified.

"Oh shit... I'm insane." He murmured pressing his hand to his forehead.

"Gregory you're not insane. I told you I'm an angel." The grey clothed figure said as he approached. "My name is Dudley." He said extending his hand.

"How am I supposed to shake your hand if you're not real?"

"I am real. I am real to you and those whom I've been charged to protect on this visit but it all comes down to you Gregory. They might not be able to see me... but they'll know the affects of me being here through you."

House sighed. "We'll you certainly don't sound like any part of my sub-conscious. I'd never say anything that sappy." he said reluctantly reaching for the angel's hand.

The dark warm hand wrapped around his.

House frowned staring down at their joined hands; it felt like his whole body was singing. Heavenly singing.

He pulled his hand away. " Dudley?"

"Yes, that is my name." He said with a kind smile.

"You said you were an angel?"

"That's correct."

"Why are you here?" House asked nervously.

The angel's smile fell slightly and he became very serious. "You have an important decision to make. I'm here to aid you."

"It's about Powell isn't it?" House said perceptively.

"Perhaps." Dudley said vaguely.

House sighed and hobbled out of his office towards his patient's room. Dudley followed him stepping through the glass.

* * *

House struggled, trying to force the tube into his patient's mouth. One more law suit wasn't going to hurt.

"Stop!" Foreman shouted rushing over his voice merging with the cry if his guardian angel.

"House, you're hurting him." Cameron said with her hands on his shoulder trying to pull him away.

"You're hurting me." It was a lie. He doubted if Cameron's beautiful hands were even capable of hurting someone. He could practically feel Dudley smirking and he wondered if the angel had the ability to read his thoughts. He turned back to Powell and spoke in a threatening tone. "Fine; you don't help us, we don't help you. Your lungs slowly fill with fluid. You gasp to catch every breath but never can. Every breath is petrifying. It'll be slow, painful; torturous."

"We don't choose our birth, and we don't choose our death." the skeletal figure argued back.

"What if you could?" He glanced at the angel wondering it this was the decision. "How 'bout we make a deal? Give me one more day. If I don't find out exactly what's wrong with you by then, I help you die."

"House." Cameron murmured. Her voice cut him slightly. In the corner of his eye he could see his angel smirking before he disappeared.

Was that it? The decision made, his hallucinated angel gone?

"24 hours. Come on, it's not gonna kill you." he said in an almost soft voice to his patient.

Powell laughed heartlessly and nodded making a deal with his executioner.

* * *

Greg went home and after tossing a frozen pizza into the oven he slumped into the couch with a large scotch in hand as he thought over the events of the day. It was certainly stranger than most.

Dudley, he thought before laughing slightly, as if a God he didn't believe in would send an angel to help him.

"Who say's I'm here to help you?" Dudley said appearing before him.

"Jesus Christ!" House exclaimed as he jumped slightly at the angel's sudden and unexpected arrival.

"No, not really." Dudley said with a smile as he took off his hat and coat, making it vanish as soon as it left his fingertips before he sat next to House.

"I thought you were gone!"

"I appeared to leave but I'm never really gone."

"Oh great, now you start with the "I can see you when you're sleeping" crap. Go watch a woman strip or something and stop bothering me." House snapped.

"You think we actually bother with clothes in heaven?" Dudley said with a smirk.

"You're kidding?!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah I am but the look on your face!" He said laughing heartily.

Some silence passed between them.

"I thought it was done." House stated as he sipped his scotch. "I managed to get him to agree to tests maybe I can cure him."

"It's not that simple." the angel said with a sigh.

"Can't you tell me what's wrong with him?" House asked.

"No I can't... it's not why I'm here."

"Yeah, yeah you're here to help me make a decision I know." he sighed. "What decision?"

"I'll tell you when the time is right. In the meantime though your pizza is cooked to perfection and I haven't eaten in 2 centuries." Dudley said standing and retrieving the pizza.

House frowned slightly but decided not to question the angel's appetite. "How can I be sure you're really an angel?"

"You mean besides walking through walls and that music when I shake your hand?"

"Yeah, I want ... I want proof."

"How do you know when you're in love?" Dudley said softly as he cut the pizza and then picked at the stray globs of melted cheese that were stuck to the baking tray.

"What?"

"How do you know when you're in love? Do you have proof of that? Do you even understand what love is?" The angel asked.

"But..." House stammered.

"Exactly. Love exists and yet no one can really explain it or quantify it. And yet it's real. You feel its effects when you look into your lovers eyes, when you hold them, watch them sleep and take that first step and say "I love you" for the first time. I'm real. Love is real. Though you'd know little about that." he said as he opened the fridge and retrieved two beers.

"What do you...?" He said confused.

"You've never really been in love so I don't really expect you to believe in me." He said as he sat beside him once more.

"What do you mean never been in love? I loved Stacy."

"But did you give her your whole heart? Did you sacrifice yourself to her entirely? No... That's what love is giving everything you have to give and expecting nothing in return."

House sobered slightly and reached for a slice. After less than half the pizza was gone he lost his appetite and went to bed and tried to sleep, unable to think about anything other than how true Dudley's words were.

* * *

24 hours had passed and they had nothing. Sweet fuck all.

Powell was going to die and it would be at his hand. The whole team entered the dead man's room; House glanced to the corner and saw the silent figure that now seemed to haunt his life.

"Whole team. Must…" Powell coughed violently in a way that made it all too easy to wince in sympathy. "…be bad news."

"Nope. Bone marrow biopsy revealed multiple myeloma." House lied fluidly. He needed more time. He wanted to solve his puzzle and he wasn't ready to kill a man yet. "It's not good news, but there are some treatments. We have to draw some blood…."

Cameron stared at House wondering what his plan was.

"What about my breathing?" Powell asked with a glance in Cameron's direction.

"Associated hyperviscosity syndrome; gummed up the blood vessels in your lungs."

"Dr. Chase said my calcium is normal."

"Mm. We call him Dr. Idiot." Behind him he could feel his team shifting.

"There's no M-protein in my urine."

"Odd presentation." He was clutching at straws here. Doctors really did make the worst patients.

"So odd that Dr. Cameron doesn't believe it either." Powell answered.

House turned and glared at Cameron. She had to care didn't she? She cared so god damned much, he thought angrily.

Out of the corner of his eyes he could see Dudley smiling once more in that almost patronizing but more parental as if watching him grow up. It made House's body tingle and his skin crawl.

"Just give me 12 more hours." He pleaded turning back to Powell. He needed more time.

"We had a deal. No more tests."

"Fair enough. Give me six more hours." House bartered as he watched his patient purse his lips in a manner that screamed he wasn't about to change his mind. "Listen; there is no evidence that you are terminal." He continued.

"You a man of your word or not?"

"No, as a matter of fact, I'm not." He answered in all seriousness. No one could trust him.

"Fine. Then discharge me." Powell demanded.

House sighed softly and glanced at the angel wondering why he couldn't help him.

"My lungs will slowly fill with fluid," Powell continued saying his own words back to him, "I'll gasp to catch every breath, but never can. Every breath will be petrifying. It'll be slow, painful; torturous. You really gonna let me die like that?"

He turned and shot a look at Dudley as if to say "are you?"

The angel stayed silent a small enigmatic smile on his lips.

House left the room filled with anger and frustration at both life and death.

* * *

Enough time for talking now was the time for action. He strode into Powell's room and shut the door behind him as he set his cane on the bed and rolled out a small medical kit, glistening needles and a vial of clear liquid staring up at him.

The ducklings followed him into the room loyally.

"Everybody who can walk should get outta here." he said selecting his weapon. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see Dudley looking over him with a dark look in his eyes.

"You can't do that." Cameron said softly.

"Can't do what? Administer a prescription painkiller to a patient who's in pain? Go." he said to her. She didn't need to be implicated in this. "Make sure somebody sees you downstairs in the cafeteria."

Nor did she have to see him become a killer he thought with his eyes pouring into hers.

He turned away from her and began to fill the syringe.

"I can't let you do this." Foreman said defiantly.

"Either I die in pain or I just die; that's what the argument is here." Ezra gasped between words.

"No it's about whether you die or we murder you." Foreman continued in his sure tone.

"What's gonna happen here is that someone's getting a butt-load of morphine." House said waving the syringe around slightly menacingly. "I'm not sure exactly who at this point."

Foreman left in silence after glaring at House one last time.

"I can't be a part of this." Cameron said softly, her eyes scanning him one last time as if memorizing him before he became a murderer.

House held back his sigh as he watched her go before his eyes turned on Chase. He watched as the blonde moved to the door and closed it before shutting the blinds.

An accessory, House thought. He's always been one. But he felt better knowing he wouldn't be doing this alone.

The heat and feel of the angel's glare was anything but comforting. Maybe this wasn't what he was supposed do. Maybe this wasn't his great decision.

"Thank you." The skeletal figure murmured from the bed. House nodded in reply. "I've always wondered exactly what was on the other side."

House looked over at the angel who shook his head. Radiating babies didn't get you into heaven it seems. "Nothing." He answered and then injected the morphine into Powell's IV securing his own passage to hell. Alarms blaze in all there glory announcing the demise of the man before them. House and Chase stand there solemnly for a few moments; Dudley meanwhile is shivering, a tear pouring down his cheek.

"Greg." the anguished angel whispered.

Everything was all wrong; House knew that the instant the angel spoke glancing at his watch he saw there was enough time and instantly moved to the old man's aid pulling the bed from the wall so he could work

"What are you doing?" Chase exclaimed.

"Getting a laryngoscope. Don't just stand there, help." He said a little frantically.

"But you told him…"

"Yeah. A little something I like to call a lie." He lied again. "Bad I know, but its way further down the list than murder." He said already feeling the warmth of the angel's presence once more now that death was gone from the room. "He's unconscious. No more whining. I'm going to keep testing him." House decided feeling at this time it would be the best course of action. "Go get a ventilator, I'm not gonna do this all night." He snapped at the blonde.

Chase shook of his confusion and then slipped out to follow his boss's orders.

House looked over at Dudley fully now that the room was empty but for them. "So, I'm not supposed to kill him then?"

"No."

"And he's not going to heaven?" House asked continuing to pump life into the old ma.

"Lord no… you've read his research? That was only what was published. There was more still after that. No, his sins were too numerous for even the Lord God himself to invite him into heaven."

"So what does it matter if he dies?! God obviously doesn't care about him so what is the problem?"

"The problem is your soul not his; yours and those close to you which is why I am here." Dudley said softly.

"You're saying I'm worse than him? That my soul needs more help?" House asked fearfully as he nodded to Ezra.

"No what I'm saying is that it can still be saved."


	2. Chapter 2

"We can legally assume that he'd consent to whatever a reasonable person would consent to." House said in a set tone, inside he was rather unhappy about the gray figure that continued to linger in the room.

"And a reasonable person would obviously consent to being put in a coma against their will just to satisfy your curiosity." Cameron snapped back haughtily.

"I try to kill him, you're mad. I don't kill him you're mad." House said in an exasperated tone, still the exasperation was more in to the direction of the angel in the room but his temper rose and rose.

"All he wanted was some dignity." She answered.

"Were you in that room with him?" He said shooting her down. "Was he wearing a tux while he was choking on his own plasma? Keep doing the tests. Take your time, do it right. Go." He said turning to the MRI scan. "Get to work."

He was going to figure this out with or without the angels help this is what he did, he thought with his eyes scrolling over the scans.

"Wait!" He shouted turning around expecting his subordinates to be gone and was surprised to see they hadn't moved at all. This also added to his anger. "Cameron, why'd you do these cuts so far down on this MRI of his head?"

"I wanted to get his brain-stem and his C-spine, make sure his diaphragm wasn't paralyzed."

"You also caught the top of his lungs. There's scarring." For this comment he received what must have been Cameron's harshest stare; which slightly unfortunately he found cute. And he could so easily imagine those darkened eyes in his bedroom. "You do know that you can't really pierce me with your stares."

"Lung scarring along with the bad bone marrow points to an autoimmune disease. Could be pulmonary fibrosis." Chase answered to fill the tense silence.

"Or Lupus." Foreman added.

"He can kill himself after we get him better. Start him on an IVIG for the Lupus, and get a colonoscopy. Lupus could be hiding there." He said, almost wishing it was Lupus because at least that would be maintainable.

And it would be Lupus at least once.

Chase and Foreman turned to do House's bidding but stopped seeing that Cameron wasn't following them.

House glanced up at Cameron and stared at her expectantly.

"I can't do this." She said her voice shaking with the all emotions and fatigue of the past two days swelling in her body.

"Drama queen." He said mainly for the benefit of Foreman and Chase who followed Cameron out though hopefully to fulfil House's instructions.

"So what do I do now?" House said with a slight sigh, some sense of loss filled him knowing Cameron wouldn't be with him on this.

"Do what you do best." Dudley answered softly, he said moving to stand behind him and resting his hand on his shoulder.

House breathed in deeply feeling warmth and resolve.

Still he wished secretly that Cameron was there.

Dudley smirked; everything was working out according to plan.

* * *

"We're doctors: We treat patients, we don't kill them." Cuddy said speaking down to House.

He nodded and pointed to Cuddy's lapel as if she were wearing a wire.

"How right you are, Dr. Cuddy! We also don't pad our bills, swipe samples from the pharmacy, or fantasize about the teenage daughters of our patients, either."

"True, better be true," She continued with a piercing glare. "And you're a pig."

House tried to get away eager to get away from his bosses abuse about his latest diagnostic decision, but Cuddy caught his arm and stopped him, those grey eyes of hers staring up at him with worry and concern which was a far cry from the look in them when she'd called him a pig.

"I'm sorry about your leg." She murmured.

"Yeah." He said slipping away from her. "We really should spend some time talking about that."

He'd had enough of women.

First Cameron had ditched the case no doubt because of the constant prodding for her to pick a side of her moral high horse. Though he supposed upon reflection that his little triad about rationalizing putting his patient in a coma probably didn't help either but he was a little pissed with Dudley at his confusing ever watching, non-interfering behaviour.

Foreman and Chase appeared at the end of the corridor with the latest set of results. House sighed as it was uncovered that is wasn't Lupus he said leading them down the hall and into the rec. room

"What else could it be?" House said more to himself but Chase answered.

"Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis."

"Gonna need an open lung biopsy to confirm." House said looking around the room not finding what he was looking for.

"So, now we're going to operate on the guy?" Foreman asked.

"Unless you've invented a new way of doing an open lung biopsy." House snipped heading for the lockers for find Cameron exactly where he expected her. "When you searched Dr. Powell's office, did you find a copy of the January, 1967 Massachusetts Medical Journal?" He asked her.

"Why?" She said exhausted by him and the whole case.

"I just figured, if you're not doing any work, you might like something to pass the time. Centre-fold's a killer." He said remembering Dudley's words hoping to create enough hatred that she'd come back to him.

That she'd be willing to torture a man with him after seeing the evil he'd done.

* * *

"This has nothing to do with saving a life; you just can't bear the thought of a patient dying before you've been able to figure out why!" Wilson exclaimed unhappy with the latest possible law suit situation that House had landed him in.

"Normally I'd secretly agree with you but shoot you down with some witty remark anyway so that I'd appear awfully clever and less moral than I am but this time I'm not so sure." He said glancing at his guardian angel as he continued to throw his tennis ball against the wall with his cane. "There's a bigger thing behind this. And even I'm not sure what it is."

Wilson frowned slightly. "What do you mean?"

House's pager went off. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Dudley fading no doubt going on ahead of him.

"I told you I don't know." House said leaving the room.

* * *

"Why won't you tell me what the hell is going on?" House asked the angel as he watched the surgery below.

"I told you I'm just here as a guide."

"But it's not fair!" House exclaimed.

"Life isn't fair. Look at me… I was shot down in my prime. You'll get through this Gregory and hopefully you'll come out for it all the better. You and…" The angel silenced himself quickly.

"Who?" House demanded turning to him. "Powell?"

The angel stayed quiet and nodded towards the doorway. House schooled his features quickly at the sight of the figure at the threshold of the room.

"Why'd you have me look up that article?" Cameron asked him with her arms crossed and stepped deeper into the room.

"Didn't you find it interesting?" He asked curiously.

"He injected newborn babies with radioactive agents just to see if they'd urethral reflux." She said her moral objections to those deeds bubbling beneath the surface.

"He was curious." He stated coolly watching the macabre scene below.

"He didn't even tell their parents he was doing an experiment." She said with her arms crossed tight across her chest, showing how she was uncomfortable with the situation.

"He wasn't doing anything his peers weren't doing."

"His peers at Tuskegee and Willowbrook?!"

"He ignored the rights of the few to save many." He said seeing the point of the experiments but not necessarily agreeing with it all.

"So you're okay with what he did?" Cameron said with a hint of shock in her voice, as if she was almost shocked that she could be capable of such a thought herself.

"Doesn't matter what I think. It's what you think that's relevant." He said needing her back.

"Because, if I think less of him, I'll help you more? You're wrong. The fact that a patient did bad things doesn't change anything. He still deserves to have some control over his own body."

He rolled his eyes wondering why she had to be so nice.

"If he had control of his own body, he'd be dead."

"Some control." She countered. "We can withhold treatment without killing him."

"No you can't!" House exclaimed growing thoroughly tired of everything. "You either help him live, or you help him die; you can't have it both ways." Chase looked up them from the OR and shook his head. "Well I guess it's not IPF. Well, maybe he'll die right now. Make everything easy for all of us." He growled leaving because Ezra's heart rate changed. He almost surprised as he felt Dudley remain in the room. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the angel rest his hand on Cameron's shoulder.

For this slightest moment he felt sick with jealousy as he made his way down to the OR but he shook it off quickly for the sake of his puzzle.

And as he worked on the man and the case developed further he glanced up at the observation room and saw that both his angels had left him.

He sighed softly.

* * *

"I want you to get a skin sample for a biopsy." House stated entering the conference room with Dudley in tow.

"And I wanna get a foot massage from Johnny Damon." Cameron answered with her new found attitude.

"Kawasaki's disease, lymphoma, and sarcoidosis are all treatable." House stated still trying to sway her.

"And it could be a hundred other things that aren't treatable. You have no idea."

"But you do; you know everything." House stated with an air of sarcasm.

"I didn't say that I…"

"Exactly!" He stated loudly. "You can't decide if we're helping or hurting him; if he's good or bad; or if you want paper, plastic, or a burlap sack. Do your damn job." He stated.

"I'm not gonna lie to him."

"Fine, tell the truth. Just get me a pound of flesh." House replied before turning and leaving. "Am I doing the right thing?" House asked his angel quietly as he strode through the halls.

"Just do what you normally do Gregory."

"How can I when you said my soul is in peril? Shouldn't I be changing something? Doing something different?"

"That's not the stubborn Gregory House I was told about." Dudley said with a gentle smile.

"It's not the person I'm used to being either." He agreed quietly.

"You're a good person… you just a have trouble seeing the bigger picture. You'll have help with that soon enough."

"I don't need help."

"You do, but don't worry about that now… concentrate on your patient."

"It's a lot harder to do when you have an angel watching over your every move." He scoffed quietly.

* * *

"It's not Kawasaki's, either. What's next?" Chase stated looking at the sample under the microscope as House entered the room.

"Congo red." House stated.

"Amyloidosis?"

"What the hell else would I mean by Congo red?"

"It's not on the list." Cameron countered.

"There's no reason for it to be on the list." Foreman added.

"An abnormal protein is building up inside the cells of his body; shutting down his organs one by one. Explains everything; the infiltrates on the x-ray, the bone marrow, kidney failure." House stated.

"We rejected amyloidosis, because it didn't fit the first symptom we found." Forman replied. "It would affect his heart."

"It did."

Cameron was confused. "It wasn't on the stress test."

"We didn't push him hard enough." House turned to Chase. "Add the stain; let's find out."

Chase sighed gently and did as he was told. "Congo red added."

"Change the polarization of the light, already."

The stain infiltrates the cells and proves positive.

"That means it should be treatable." She said with obvious hope.

"How the hell you pull that out of…" Foreman half asked.

"Oh God." Chase murmured. "Protein type AA."

The mood of the whole room fell; House glanced at the angel and saw a sad recognition in his face. Dudley knew this was going to happen.

"Oh God indeed." House murmured handing a candy bar to Cameron, for what reason he wasn't even sure he could say, he left the room to give the diagnosis to their patient.

"Dr. House." Ezra stated weakly.

"You have amyloidosis; it's in your lungs, kidneys, bone marrow, and brain."

"Why should I believe you now?"

"If I was lying, I wouldn't tell you the subtype is AA. It's terminal." House said somewhat forlornly, the ache of the angel that followed him permeating his heart.

"Congratulations, you got your answer." Ezra said with a slight smile.

House was far from content. He may have one answer but there were still several questions.

"You knew!" House shouted as he entered his home. "You knew all along that he was dying that there was nothing I could do."

"Yes."

"You stopped me from putting him out of his misery!" House said pouring himself a shaky scotch.

"It's not you're place." Dudley said sadly.

"He's in severe pain right now and you're saying there's nothing I can do about it?"

"Yes. Strange to feel so powerless isn't it?"

"Is that what all this is about?" House yelled. "Taking me down a peg or two?"

"No, that would be almost impossible. I told you I'm here to help guide you through a decision."

"WHAT DECISION?!" House roared thoroughly tired of the situation.

"It has yet to come."

"Then why have you been here through all this? Why oh dear god why have you lead me to believe that this is all about Ezra Powell?!"

"Because by being here I've managed to convince you that I'm real and that your actions have consequences after you die. And you've already begun to make the right choice."

"FUCK OFF!" House yelled tossing his glass at the angel watching it pass through him and hearing it smash loudly against the wall.

Dudley looked at him sadly. "You're a good man Gregory. Why don't you let yourself see it? Why don't you let others see it?"

And with those parting words the angel faded.

House felt empty and defeated.


	3. Chapter 3

"Ezra Powell passed away last night. I'm sure you already knew about that." Cuddy said entering his office looking somewhat affected by the old man's death.

"No. I just got in." House said shaking his head a little.

"The nurse charted at 2 AM; he was stable. Breathing laboured, but regular. And at 2:30 he suddenly stopped." She said sighing softly but her eyes fixated on him with dark curiosity. "You know anything about that?

"If I did, would you really wanna know?" House said normally.

Dudley appeared just as Cuddy left his office. House turned accusingly to the angel. "What the hell?!"

"Figure it out Gregory. I'll be waiting." and with that he disappeared.

* * *

I hate being right House thought as he approached the chapel.

Dudley stood leaning against the railings watching life pass by below.

As House approached he took a moment to glance through the stained glass windows seeing that there was indeed a familiar figure sitting in the chapel before he turned and stood next to Dudley mirroring his position.

"She did it." He stated but really he was asking a question to which he already knew the answer.

"Yes." The angel answered softly.

House sighed. "Can she... will she still go to heaven?" he asked concerned for her soul now that he knew there was life after death.

Dudley smiled. "She's pure Gregory. She's quite possibly the only person in this entire city that could take a man's life for the right reasons. Even she may not understand them herself but the big guy does. She did the will of God... she is an angel. Always will be. It's just who she is."

He sighed in relief and nodded.

"You knew this was going to happen didn't you?" House asked perceptively.

The angel smiled gently.

"Perhaps."

"So what is the decision I have to make that you're supposed to help me with? I thought it was Powell, I thought I was supposed to help him die?" House mused aloud the conversation from last night still lingering in his mind.

"This is it." Dudley said matter of factly looking around.

"What do you mean?"

"What you do at this exact moment will determine your future."

House fought away what he already knew. "Dudley." he said warningly.

"It's a constant battle for you isn't it? Between your head and your heart. Hope and love is what a man needs to survive and you push away both." Dudley leaned closer to House. "She's your salvation Gregory. You knew it from the first moment you met her even before she spoke. She is your hope and your love. And now you have to decide."

House gulped. "Decide what?"

"Between your head." he said pointing to the human's skull. "Or your heart."

Those fingers touched his chest and his body sang that heavenly tune once more he felt whenever the angel touched him.

"Stop!" House exclaimed pulling back from him, his hand moving over his chest where the angel's fingers lingered. His eyes were inexplicably drawn to the doors of the chapel.

"Go to her." he said encouragingly to the conflicted mortal. "She needs you now as you have always needed her."

He glanced at the angel. "I'm not going to see you again am I?"

"You will." He said with a smile as he fixed his coat and smoothed out its non-existant creases before holding out his hand to the mortal. "But not for many, many years yet."

House took the angels hand and squeezed it tightly. "Thank you, Dudley." he said wanting to linger in that heavenly place just a little longer.

The angel smirked and then faded.

House looked around almost hoping that the grey figure would have stayed just a little while longer. A sad smile around his lips he turned to the chapel and entered with hope in his being for the first time in a long time.

He loped forward slowly and came to a stop at her side. He rested his hand on her shoulder as he'd watched the angel do yesterday. It felt so small and fragile under his palm.

"I'm so proud of you." He murmured softly.

She sighed softly and stayed quiet.

House tapped her arm gently and she slid over the bench a little. He said beside her a little uneasy and uncomfortable.

"Why here?"

"It seemed like the right place to come to." She murmured in a weak voice.

House tapped his cane gently on the thick carpet.

"You did the right thing."

"I killed a man."

"You did the right thing. I know you. I know that your intentions are good and true. You did the right thing." He repeated.

"It doesn't feel like it."

Leaning back House thought for a moment and then moved his arm. It took him a while to set it around her shoulders and squeeze her cold little body to his long frame. "Sometimes good things feel awkward, but that doesn't mean it's not right." He said to her and to himself.

Her breathing was harsh and quick from an overload of emotions. Her body was stiff from the unfamiliar position as she wrestled with what to do. House rubbed her arm gently willing her to relax if only to know what it would feel like. And relax she did giving into her heart and resting her head on his shoulder.

"I'm so proud of you." He whispered.

"Thank you." She replied equally as softly shuffling closer to him, needing to be closer to him.

"You're welcome." He murmured. "Allison."

She smiled softly and so did he.

* * *

Dudley stood invisible to them both in the corner of the room and smiled softly and happily knowing two souls were now destined to be entwined for the rest of their mortal and immortal lives.

They would face trials and uncertainties but together they would make it through.

"You did it." Said the body attached to the pair of arms that wrapped around him.

"We did it." He answered turning and embracing his own soul-mate. "How did it go with Allison?"

"It was tough but we got there." She said with a gentle smile.

"Yup we did and so did they." He kissed her softly. "Time to go home."

They kissed once more and with that they left the mortal world not for the first and certainly not for the last time.


End file.
